Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

All that has to happen will happen. Do not worry about it. Past is past; forget the past. Future is uncertain; do not brood over it. Present is important; live in the present and be happy. Do not worry about past and future.

A person who has a compassionate heart, who is truthful, and who serves others will never be affected by any evil forces. Such a person's life will be truly sanctified.

All that has to happen will happen. Do not worry about it. Past is past; forget the past. Future is uncertain; do not brood over it. Present is important; live in the present and be happy. Do not worry about past and future.

Do not exaggerate the importance of things that have material utility; they fade even while you grasp them. Search for Being (Sat) - that which suffers no change. Search for the state of consciousness (Chit), which is unaffected by gusts of passion, which is pure, which is free from egoism or the desire to possess. Only then can you experience the light and illumine the path for others.

Develop self-confidence. When you have self-confidence, you will attain self-satisfaction which will lead you to self-sacrifice and ultimately to Self-realization. What is the meaning of Self-realization? It means to realize one’s Self. You keep asking everybody, “Who are you?” But you do not ask yourself, “Who am I?” Am I the body, am I the mind, am I the intellect, am I the consciousness, am I the senses? When you say, ‘my body’, you are different from the body. Body is like a water bubble; mind is like a mad monkey. Do not follow the body; do not follow the mind.

Listen to pure and sacred words. People misuse their ears listening to scandal and gossip. This evil tendency should be eliminated by listening to the glories of God. Such listening has been accorded a primary place among the nine paths of devotion.

Take all worldly losses, sufferings, and worries as merely temporal and transitory. Realize that repetition of the Name and meditation are the only ways to overcome such grief. You must understand that loss, suffering, and worry are external, they belong to this world, while repetition of the Name and meditation are internal. They belong to the realm of love for the Lord.

Dasara is the festival that celebrates the victory of the forces of the good over the forces of evil. The sages who have decided on these festivals have a high purpose. They want us to imbibe the inner meaning and use each day as a step in spiritual practice (sadhana), as a reminder of each person's journey to the feet of the Lord alone. The forces of good are combating the forces of evil in every living being, and if they only rely on the great Divine Force (mahashakti) that fosters and fends the universe, they can easily win and reach their goal (enlightenment).

During the ten days of Dasara, the demons (rakshasas), in the form of wicked qualities, have been routed. Rakshasas do not mean demonic beings. The bad qualities in humans are the demons. Arrogance is a demon. Bad thoughts are demons. Ravana is depicted as the king of rakshasas. He is said to have ten heads, but he was not born with ten. Who is this Ravana, and what are his ten heads? Lust (kama), anger (krodha), delusion (moha), greed (lobha), pride (mada), envy (matsarya), the mind (manas), intellect (buddhi), will (chitta), and ego (ahamkara) -these constitute the ten heads. Ravana has these ten qualities. Each can decide whether they are a Ravana or a Rama, according to their qualities. Rama is the destroyer of bad qualities.

To acquire the grace of the Lord, people have to offer worship at the outset to Nature. On the one hand, you need human effort, and on the other, you have to acquire the grace of the divine. Nature and the Omni-Self (Paramatma) are like the negative and positive poles of electricity.

All the festivals of Indians (Bharatiyas) have been designed to promote divine love among the people. It is to confer such love on the people that the Lord incarnates on earth. God demonstrates how love should be expressed. God showers love and teaches everyone how to love. Hence, experience this love and joy in your life and live in peace.

Navarathri means nine nights. Darkness is associated with night. What is this darkness? It is the darkness of ignorance. The purpose of the Navarathri celebration is to enable you to get rid of nine types of darkness that have taken hold of you.

True devotion means perpetual remembrance of the name of the Lord and constant meditation on that name, cherishing the figure of Rama in the heart. You should be prepared to face the difficulties of life with firm faith in God. It is during times of difficulties that God is remembered. To confront difficulties with faith is itself a spiritual discipline.

Pure vision leads to pure thoughts. Pure thoughts result in pure actions. Purity in action is essential for human existence. Purity in thoughts and purity in speech must lead to purity in deeds. This is the triple purity hailed by the sages. When this purity is manifest, human life gets redeemed. The principle of “Help Ever, Hurt Never” becomes the governing principle of daily life.